General Chat

Afternoon all

Cloudy again today, but no rain.

Well, our toilet has finally given up the ghost, I was hoping it might of lasted until Friday when OH is home, so I don't know what we're going to do now as no where is open before or after OH finishes work, so he can't buy a new part. I've tried looking online for help but none of it made sense to me, nothing knew there, and the bits inside the cistern's on show didn't look like ours. At the moment there is a continuous sound of running water, but the cistern isn't filling up and the push button flush just goes straight down as if it's not connected properly, even though it is, I think it's because the cistern is as good as empty, there's only about an inch of water at the bottom.

I've just done the second coat of paint on the insulation I papered and wouldn't you know it, the insulation has come lose in the middle, you don't notice it until you get nearer, so I think I might just leave it. I'd love to take the whole lot off but I know the wall would go mouldy if I did that.

We've had a letter off BT thanking us for our order and a bill of almost £50, I wasn't aware we had ordered anything, in fact I know we haven't, all I've done recently is put in the new router, which they said was free. They said they were going to send me an email when the fibre is up and running, I don't know why they bother as I've never been able to get onto my BT emails with not remembering the password and when I told them about it they didn't seem to want to help. I don't have a BT ID so can't access anything. Luckily there's a phone number, but because it's in OH's name they won't speak to me and he isn't here.

So that's the three things going wrong for today, hopefully there won't be anymore as I'm feeling really fed up of it all now.

Onto something nice, I love the roses Mandy, how pretty are they? I wish we had nice ones like you.

You've done a really good job on your drawers painting them Ann, what a difference a lick of paint makes. Have you filled it up yet? I only had a small amount of painting to do and it's emulsion so I haven't got a headache. Mind you I had one before I started and took a painkiller so that might explain it.

Frank, do you have any fizzy pop in your house? If you do have a couple of mouthfuls of it, it takes away hic cups, it has to be very fizzy pop though, or it doesn't work. I swear by it and it works every time. Much better than making yourself sick. Sorry to hear you've had another fall, thankfully you didn't hurt yourself.

Pleased to see the scan didn't take long Jane, hopefully the news will be good in a couple of weeks time.

I had to smile AnnG when you said mending the pocket kept your OH occupied, poor thing, you're right it won't hold for long, but at least he had a go. My OH doesn't mend any of his clothes and passes them onto me to fix. He gave me some jeans to mend once and I ended up breaking my needle, it was a really good one that used to be my Nan's. All I've got is a tiny one that's not very good, so I'll have to go and buy a better one now.

Thanks for all the good wishes for OH's job situation. His boss has said she'll give him a bit of bank work, but he has to have a week off first, something to do with his contract, but he doesn't know how many hours each month he'll get as it's an if and when needed, so he definitely needs a full time contract soon.

Gill temporarily until OH gets home. Have you got a bowl or bucket or some other container that you can fill with water and put in the cystern. You should then be able to flush it. Or you will also see if the water drains away without flushing.

the bill from BT could be for the new router. Maybe you have missed where they said you will be billed for it. It is maybe like the virgin boxes, we had to pay for the new ones we had. Seems a cheek when it feels as though it should be part of the contract with them.

Frank, I did mention this before, are your glasses OK? could they be the reason you are tripping over things? Although I have almost tripped over log roll edging that we have in the garden before. Pleased that you were not hurt this time anyway.

Jane two weeks to wait then so you need to find things to take your mind of the results now.

I think you could be right AnnG.

Was'nt Ann's owl lovely. Loved his big eyes.

Still waiting for the order for the big wipe down to start. I bet it come just as Iam going to get the lunch. He's usually here by now but the order says between 11am and 1pm.

Oh caled my out last night and said bring your camera. Off I went to see what he wanted. It was a mass of baby spiders that had hatched and waiting for a breeze to blow them away. I got a few pics so will send them when I have time.

DONE IT AGAIN DID'T POST THIS

tWO WEEKS IS SUCH A LONG TIME TO WAIT FOR RESULTS. yOU WOULD THINK THEY COULD SOMETHING BETTER THAN THAT.

Sorry did'nt mean to shout but it makes you want to.

Gill it sounds to me as though you have entered into a new contract and thats what the payment is for. As for the loo does it have an overflow outside or is it going down the pan?? Our one in the caravan does that. It may be that something has either stuck or broken in the workings. Do you have a ball in the cistern or not?

Frank not another trip. I do hope you hav'nt hurt yourself you silly boy. Sending love
<3 <3.

I tried putting water in the cistern AnnG, but it didn't work, thanks for mentioning it though. I've been looking online for help to fix it, but I'm not brave enough to do it, but at least I know what the inside of a toilet cistern looks like now lol.

The toilet is driving me mad though with the water trickling it's making me want to go to the loo and that's not good as it won't flush. I think it has something to do with a flapper or at least the Internet is telling me that. It's a rubber seal that might of worn a bit or needs cleaning. I'm thinking of turning the water off to the toilet as it will be costing me a fortune on my water bill, we have an isolator valve so only the toilet will be turned off, everything else will work.

The cistern isn't filling up there's just a inch or two of water at the bottom of the cistern. I've just check what make it is and it says Macdee AFV40100 and AFV40200, but when I looked online for a replacement there isn't one. The toilet is about 12 years old, but I don't know if any new ones would be a suitable replacement for the old one. It might just need cleaning, but given how old it is it'll probably need replacing, but I don't know which one to order with not being able to find a like for like one.

As for BT I'm not sure what's going on with them so will have to wait until Friday when OH is home as it's in his name so he'll have to ring and ask them or give me permission to talk to them myself as I was the one that did the router, so if they ask OH questions he won't know what to say.

The paint is almost dry so when it is I'm going to cut a little cross where the insulation has come away from the wall in the middle and stick it back down with some bathroom sealant, I did that on the other side and it worked. I'll then paint over the cross to hide it.

In the meantime I've managed to clear the spare bed of all my craft kits, so once the single bed goes back into the room I'm decorating, I'll have two rooms back to rights. The single bed is propped up against the double bed at the moment.

I hope my water bill isn't going to be to high as we're on a water metre and the toilet has been running all day. Trying to get to the isolator valve will be fun.....not, as it's right in the corner of the bathroom with only about six inches to get near it. I might need a torch to see what I'm doing, when I lean over the toilet to find it I'll block out the daylight.

Oh the joys of being on your own ;-) ;-) What a day I'm having, I should of stayed in bed lol. At least the place isn't being flooded, so that's something.

Dear me Gill, you are not having a good day are you. You’ll need to throw buckets of water into the toilet to flush it, but do as AnnG suggests and pour 1 bucket in the cistern so you can see what’s happening there. Regarding BT, do you think you misunderstood what they were telling you. I found the following online:

BT will give you a Smart Hub for free if you contract, or recontract, for a minimum of 18 months. If you are already with them and don’t want the extra commitment, you can have it for £50 which still compares favourably with retail models.

EDIT. This was the beginning of a long thread. I did it in Notes, did a c&p, pressed submit and was told it had posted so I deleted my Notes. Now I see it only posted the first little bit and seems to have lost all the rest :-P. I don’t have time to retype it all.

You make me wanna shout ,come on now, Shout come on now! Now I will have Lulu on my brain Mel! lol. Yes it does seem a long time to wait, but after the scan a radiologist has to read it and do a report for the doctor who then needs to read the report and decide on what the next step might be and possibly discuss with others before he sees you. I expect if it was done urgently things would be speeded up. It's stressful though for you when it's your scan and you are waiting. %3A-S Keep busy Jane! Is it this week you are seeing Fitz? If so that will be nice. Has Valerie done with Ros to Tesco then?

Well, believe it or not I have booked my hair appointment for the 14th July!! %3A-D It is my hairdresser's smallest salon that I go to (6 seats) and is attached to gym. We will all wear disposable gowns and use masks including the staff who will also wear disposable gloves. No refreshments or magazines or cash. Seats will be disinfected after each customer and be marked red or green to show which have been disinfected. We will complete a questionnaire before being seated and use the available hand sanitiser. The towels used will be single use bio-degradeable ones. With all that in place I feel as confident as you can be. The salons are always spotless anyway and Barry has had all of his staff do extra online hygiene training. He is very hot on up to date training anyway and keeps everyone on their toes! Of course if the virus starts spreading again and we need another lockdown it will all be cancelled. %3A-S

Frank it was lucky you didn't land on Ros's plants or do your self more harm with another fall. That is kind of you to do a cottage pie for Valerie as well and I add bits and bobs like you to gravy and I keep burning myself on the oven! Is Val in the car with Ros

OH has painted 2 bits of the top trellis on the bottom fence, but it was too hot then so he will carry on tomorrow. I did a zoom session this morning on making paper beads which was quite good, but I don't think I'll be making a beaded curtain anytime soon!

We tried the Asda fish and chip with pea puree portions today and enjoyed them so I will order them again as they only need sticking in the oven. (the diet's gone down the pan this week as we finished off the cake that wasn't frozen too).

Gill, look at the water pipe to the toilet and see if there is a straight connector in it with a screw head showing. If so, tightening the screw in the connector will cut the water off just to the toilet. You can then just flush the toilet with a bucket of water till your OH can get the part.

AnnG at least your OH is keeping occupied and out of trouble with his pocket repair even though we know it won't last! Mine unbeknown to me has just been hunting for the dettol spray to wipe the bin handles. This is the same bottle of spray that I showed him him where it goes on the front edge of the cupboard under the sink only last week. He started his search in the Utility room for some reason and managed to knock and smash on the floor the silver dip I only rediscovered last week when going through the cupboard. He moved the door and has probably scratched the tiles with the bits of glass trapped under it and has managed to paddlle the contents over the kitchen floor as well %3A-S He's wiped the floor missing half and the grout is covered. :-S :-S :-S

Evening all,

It's been a lovely warm sunny day and i seem to have got lots of little jobs done but you can't see what i've done if you now what i mean .

Hope your tummy if better now Mel it sounds as if it might have been the blackberries that upset it .

AnnG the shorts will probably be ok until they need washing then it will be your fault the patch has come off in the wash :-D but he tried didn't he :-D

Jane that was good you were in and out for your scan quickly ,it's going to seem a long two weeks for you now i do hope you get good news <3
So you have some roses out,how is the rest of the garden has Chris got all his veg in and cues and toms in the green house .

Oh no Gill not a dodgy loo ,hope you managed to turn the water off you don't want to be paying for water running down the drain .
Hope OH can get it sorted soon but at least you can fill a bucket to flush with in the mean time .

Yes Vera the roses do have a lovely perfume in answer to your question i always pick them for their perfume .
You said about trying to fit a rose in your garden ,why not just have a small patio rose in a pot .

Ann i swear when you tell men some thing it seems to go in one ear and out the other :-D sounds as if there was quite a mess to clear up .
Well done making your hair appointment ,my hair is all over the place i keep trying to tuck the sides behind my ears now and use hair spray to try and keep it in place .
Colin did use the clippers at the back to keep it out of my neck as it as beginning to curl up in the neck and he made a good job of it ,i told him to just do a tiny bit at a time so it did take him a few minutes to do .

What on earth is %3A-S?????????????????????

Sun came out a little while ago. I have fed the strawberries but not been up the border today. Took ages once again to wipe down allt he shopping and I have damp dusted the bedroom and hall except for the plate rack which has loads on it.

Oh is cooking some egg fried rice for dinner with our chinese tonight. He is adding spring onions mixed veg muchrooms and ham and of course egg.

3 cross face emojis Mel! I had to copy and re-paste to word and then back to to GR as I forgot to post and it wouldn't let me post it to a new post without it reverting to the old one......bet you wish you hadn't asked now! I will try and edit it. It worked! So all the wiping down is done now, it's the worst bit I think and the longer between deliveries the more there is to do, but less often.

It's gone quite hot here and OH is sweltering, which makes a change as I seem to be the cooler one lately. Tomorrow after another zoom session we may go for a drive to pick up the prescriptions and take the paper shreddings to leave at the smallholding gate. It's likely to be hot again so the aircon in the car will cool us off nicely. Then OH has 2 virtual meetings in the afternoon and evening. He's liking meetings this way as he saves no end of time travelling and being stuck in traffic. The meetings seem to be quicker too and more focussed which helps with his notes. He's had enquiries for some of the footie programmes, so I need to photograph them so he can email them so they can see the condition of them next.

Mandy I forgot to say I had to smile at Colin's comment about the upside down paint. It reminded me how new people that started where I worked years ago would be sent to ask for Tartan Paint.

Jane I will try icing sugar IF there is a next time! I just followed what Mary Berry said, but I think a bit more lemon juice and like Mandy said to pour it on while the cake is hot would have worked. Because I made lemon buttercream icing to sandwich it with, I let it go cold so that wouldn't melt. I should have done the top before I sandwiched it together though. My next experiment will be the date and walnut loaf, something else new to try!!

I was very jealous of AnnG’s garden centre outing but now we have a trip planned for next Monday. I’m very excited. We have an 11am reservation at the tip. We mustn’t arrive before 10.55, then we are allowed 5 minutes for getting in and out and 10 minutes for OH to unload. I mustn’t help. I am so looking forward to this outing. My OH really knows how to give a girl a good time :-D

I had to laugh at your exciting, upcoming 'date' Vera. :-D Your tip is doing the same as ours with appointment slots and I expect others will do the same. It could be tricky though with not being able to help if something is heavy or awkward to lift over the skip edges. Maybe they would tell you to leave it for their staff to move after you have gone if that's the case. We have all sorts that needs taking, old chairs, 2 computers as well as empty paint tins, old flower pots, lots of wood, carpet and other stuff in the garage.

When I worked at the PDSA the men in the garage woud send new chaps out of 6 sky hooks. Just love the tartan paint though.

Really tired tonight so it won't be long till I am off up the wooden hill to bed, if we had stairs!!

I do hope its good news for Jane in two weeks.

Good morning everyone

Having an atrocious night again. I slept from about 11.30 till 1 am and have been awake since. I came into the spare room around 2.30 as I thought my restlessness would disturb OH, then just after 5 I got up and made a mug of tea. At the moment my head’s very painful again but I am sure it is lack of sleep causing it. I am going to try and get an hour’s zzz now before getting up to face the day.

This is a miserable post isn’t it. I might bbl in a more cheerful mood.

Good morning Vera and all,

Wall to wall blue sky and sunshine this morn ing. The washing machine is doing its thing with a towel wash in so thats going to take nearly two hours.

We have started next weeks shopping to reserve our slot so thats another job out of the way untill the end of the week when we add to it.

Hope all you others had a good nights sleep and that Frank is not bruised to much from his trip the other day.

Mandy I have replied to you by email.

Must do the bathroom this morning as with oh cutting metal and taking rust off the old mower deck you can imagine how dirty it is in there.

Hope Vera managed to get another hour or two's sleep tis mroning so she will feel better when she wakes up.

Gill did oh manage to sort out the loo for you?

O I forgot to tell you the swallows are back and building in oh's filter shed again this year. He's not pleased as they make such a mess but they are in and out a lot and chattering away.

Morning All,

Oh Vera I hope you got some more sleep too. I didn't do so well last night and was awake till after 2.00am which ruined my plan to be up early!

Lovely sunny day again as you say Mel. I started with some watering and will soon need to plant out a few things like my french marigolds and nasturtiums. I thought the nasturtiums had a virus at first but they are all the same so I think it's the variety that has variegated leaves! How nice to see that the Swallows are back.....even if they are messy!

OH is just finishing painting 2 more trellis panels so I'd better switch the warming drawer on to warm the plates for lunch........2 extra meals I prepared and froze before to go with some rice. I might add some courgette and peppers as we are both hungry. I have steam mopped the kitchen and uti now after his disaster yesterday and still found more bits of glass. I shan't be padding around with bare feet for a while!

I do hope the hairdressers will be able to open in June if the virus levels keep falling. Mine has plastic screens in place at the reception desk too. My hair is just about ok but getting longer each day!! It's ok in the mornings after it's washed, but by afternoon some kinks and waves start appearing!

I can hear him banging the lid on the paint tin so better get whirring!

good afternoon all. Brilliant sunny day here and quite hot outside. I have been out pottering in the garden all morning, had our coffee out there as well. I daren't do the planting this year which is a nuisance as I like to feel I do my bit to the garden (considering I used to do it all), Anyway I have been directing OH on where to put the Rudbeckia and French marigolds. Luckily that is all that is left to plant now. I managed to dead head and cut back and pull up a few things to tidy the borders but it is too hot out there now to do anything. The wild flower seeds are growing well including a couple of stinging nettles which I won't allow to grow. I know they are good for butterflies but not where they are at the moment. The roses are looking great and I don't think we have ever had so many flowering so early all at once. I have just been round with the camera but it might have been too bright so may well go round early evening again. I wanted to take all the roses for reference. goodness knows what any of them are called OH is not great at keeping labels.

I worked out this morning that this is the longest time that OH and I have spent consistently in each others company. Up until now it has been four weeks as we did have several years of a four week break in Tenerife in May and again in September.

AnnG oh and I have been together for 23 years this August and spent most of that time together. In fact as I said before we have our own little world down here behind these stone walls. Its not much different to us this lockdown.

I have washed the towels this morning and hoovered bedroom, bathroom, hall and kitchen and dining area and a bit of the lounge. did lunch, toasted corned beef and branston sandwiches, watched Father Brown again, washed up and wshed some flowerpots, been told by oh not to look at what he is welding if I go past as he has a mask on and I don't and now I am going to see how hot it is up the border and perhaps I can do a bit more up there.

Pizza tonight so not a lot of cooking.

Where's our Franky boy again???????????????????????????? I hope he is ok after that last fall.

Just come sown from the border. I can hardly stand once I have sat down. It must have been the way I was working up there on my kneeler thing. I have done quite a bit today so am pleased with the way I got on but am paying for it now.